Structure and method to reduce crystal defects in epitaxial fin merge using nitride deposition

ABSTRACT

A FinFET device includes a substrate with a buried insulator, a plurality of fins over the buried insulator, and a nitride material filing spaces between the plurality of fins. At least one sidewall of each of the plurality of fins remain uncovered by the nitride material. The nitride material may also not contact the bottom of the plurality of fins.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is related to application Ser. No. 14/093,658, filedDec. 2, 2013, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present application relates to a semiconductor structure and amethod of forming the same. More particularly, the present applicationrelates to a FinFET device and a method for making the same.

2. Related Art

For more than three decades, the continued miniaturization of metaloxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) has driven theworldwide semiconductor industry. Various showstoppers to continuedscaling have been predicated for decades, but a history of innovationhas sustained Moore's Law in spite of many challenges. However, thereare growing signs today that metal oxide semiconductor transistors arebeginning to reach their traditional scaling limits. Since it has becomeincreasingly difficult to improve MOSFETs and therefore complementarymetal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) performance through continued scaling,further methods for improving performance in addition to scaling havebecome critical.

The use of non-planar semiconductor devices such as, for example,semiconductor fin field effect transistors (FinFETs), is the next stepin the evolution of CMOS devices. FinFETs are non-planar semiconductordevices which include at least one semiconductor fin protruding from asurface of a substrate. A gate dielectric can be formed in directphysical contact with each vertical sidewall of the at least onesemiconductor fin and, optionally, in direct physical contact with atopmost surface of the semiconductor fin. A gate conductor can be formedon the gate dielectric and straddling a portion of the at least onesemiconductor fin. FinFETs can increase the on-current per unit arearelative to planar field effect transistors.

As such, there is a need to improve FinFET devices and methods formaking the same.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One aspect of the invention is directed to a FinFET device whichincludes a substrate with a buried insulator, a plurality of fins overthe buried insulator, and a nitride material filing spaces between theplurality of fins. At least one sidewall of each of the plurality offins remain uncovered by the nitride material.

Another aspect of the invention is directed to a FinFET device whichincludes a substrate with a buried insulator, a plurality of fins overthe buried insulator, and a nitride material filing spaces between theplurality of fins. At least one sidewall of each of the plurality offins remain uncovered by the nitride material and the nitride materialdoes not contact the bottom of the plurality of fins.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of theinvention and, together with the description, serve to explain theprinciples of the invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates an initial semiconductor structure known in the priorart.

FIG. 2 illustrates an initial semiconductor structure known in the priorart.

FIG. 3 illustrates an initial semiconductor structure known in the priorart that can be employed in at least one embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates an initial semiconductor structure known in the priorart that can be employed in at least one embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates a semiconductor structure in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates a semiconductor structure in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates a semiconductor structure in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates a semiconductor structure in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 illustrates a semiconductor structure in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 illustrates a semiconductor structure in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present application will now be described in greater detail byreferring to the following discussion and drawings that accompany thepresent application. It is noted that the drawings of the presentapplication are provided for illustrative purposes and, as such, theyare not drawn to scale. In the drawings and description that follows,like elements are described and referred to by like reference numerals.

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth,such as particular structures, components, materials, dimensions,processing steps and techniques, in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present application. However, it will beappreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that the presentapplication may be practiced with viable alternative process optionswithout these specific details. In other instances, well-knownstructures or processing steps have not been described in detail inorder to avoid obscuring the various embodiments of the presentapplication.

The various embodiments of the disclosure describe a structure andmethod for eliminating crystalline defects in the epitaxial mergematerial of fins in FinFET devices and equivalent devices; for example,an n-FET region that employs phosphorous dopant in the epitaxial mergematerial and oxide insulator region(s) in between the fins will havepronounced crystalline defects form therein during epitaxial merging.Defects can be dislocations and/or planar defects in the epitaxialmaterial. One reason for the more pronounced defect formation duringepitaxial merge of nFET fins may be phosphorous poisoning of the oxide.Nitride is deposited in between the spaces of fins and/or withinrecesses of an insulator region or regions that are in between the fins;the nitride suppresses crystalline defect formation during epitaxialmerge of the fins in the source drain region.

Referring first to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a device, which includesfrom top to bottom, a bulk silicon substrate 13, an insulator layer 12and a handle substrate 10. The device shown in FIG. 1 can be used tomake a FinFET device or equivalent structure. As shown with reference toFIG. 2, in preparation for producing a FinFET device, an insulator layer14 is deposited on top of the bulk silicon substrate 13. This can bedone using various techniques known in the art, such as by thermaloxidation or PECVD oxide deposition. Accordingly, FIG. 3 illustrates thedevice of FIG. 2 after it has undergone one of the various knowtechniques known in the art, such as an SIT process or directpatterning. The various steps and processes necessary for fin formationare known, and are omitted herein.

FIG. 3, from top to bottom, includes remnants of the insulator layer 14,hereinafter referred to as the insulator material layer 15, a pluralityof fins 18 dispersed on top of the insulator layer 12, which in turn isover the handle substrate 10. Collectively the handle substrate 10 andthe buried insulator layer 12 may be referred to herein as asemiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) substrate. The handle substrate 10provides mechanical support for the buried insulator layer 12 and anyother layer or material that can be stacked thereupon.

In some embodiments of the present application, the handle substrate 10can be a semiconductor material, where the term “semiconductor” as usedherein in connection with the semiconductor material of the handlesubstrate 10 denotes any semiconducting material including, for example,Si, Ge, SiGe, SiC, SiGeC, InAs, GaAs, InP or other like III/V compoundsemiconductors. Multilayers of these semiconductor materials can also beused. In one embodiment, the handle substrate 10 is silicon. In someembodiments, as for example, those involving the stacking of multiplelayers, the handle substrate 10 is a non-semiconductor materialincluding, for example, a dielectric material and/or a conductivematerial.

In some embodiments, the handle substrate 10 can have the crystalorientation of {100}, {110}, or {111}. Other crystallographicorientations besides those specifically mentioned can also be used inthe present application. The handle substrate 10 can be a singlecrystalline semiconductor material, a polycrystalline material, or anamorphous material. In some embodiments, the handle substrate 10 can beprocessed to include semiconductor regions having different crystalorientations.

The buried insulator layer 12 can be a crystalline or non-crystallineoxide or nitride. In one embodiment, the buried insulator layer 12 is anoxide such as, for example, silicon dioxide. The buried insulator layer12 can be continuous or it may be discontinuous. When a discontinuousburied insulator region is present, the insulator region can exist as anisolated island that is surrounded by semiconductor material.

The insulator layer 14, and by extension the insulator material layer15, (which as stated is the remnant of insulator layer 14), is locatedover the plurality of fins 18, can be a crystalline or non-crystallineoxide. In one embodiment, the insulator material layer 15 can be anoxide, such as for example, silicon oxide.

Preferably, the buried insulator layer 12 will be a buried oxide layer,for example, and as stated, silicon dioxide.

The SOI substrate may be formed utilizing standard processes includingfor example, SIMOX (separation by ion implantation of oxygen) or layertransfer. When a layer transfer process is employed, an optionalthinning step may follow the bonding of two semiconductor waferstogether.

Referring now to FIG. 4, an embodiment of the present disclosure isshown. A FinFET device is shown with the insulator material layer 15over the plurality of fins 18, where nitride material 20 is deposited inbetween spaces between each semiconductor fin 18. The nitride material20 can be deposited by directional deposition, for example high densityplasma deposition, such that it covers surfaces parallel to the plasmasource, without causing excessive perpendicular deposition, i.e.minimizing deposition of nitride material along the sidewalls of thefins 18. The nitride material 20 can be any kind of silicon basednitride material, like Si_(x)O_(y)N_(z). Preferably, the material willbe silicon nitride, Si₃N₄.

The nitride material 20 is deposited such that it occupies recessedportions of the buried insulator 12. The recessed portions of theinsulator layer 12 are not shown in FIG. 2, but it should be noted thatthe recess will be along the surface of the insulator 12. The recessescan be deep or shallow. For instance, by way of a non-limiting example,in the 14 nm or 10 nm technology context, a shallow trench can rangefrom 5 nm-15 nm in depth and a deep trench can range from 20 nm-50 nm indepth. The trench width is dependent on, and cannot exceed, the spacingbetween the fins.

The directional nitride deposition can be done so that the nitridematerial 20 is deposited in between the fins 18 in a manner whichoccupies and partially or completely fills the recesses in the spacesbetween the fins 18. The deposition can be such that the bottom of eachof the fins 18, i.e. the portion of the fins that makes contact with theinsulator region 12, does not make any substantial mechanical contact orno mechanical contact at all, with the nitride material 20.

The buried insulator layer 12 can be recessed as a result of certainprocess steps prior to the epitaxial deposition process; for example,fin formation, gate spacer formation, multiple wet treatments and anadditional pre-epitaxy fin surface clean by the use of hydrofluoric acidor dry etching processes (SiCoNi). This will result in gauging andrecessing of the buried insulator layer 12 in between the fin.

Referring now to FIG. 5, an etch process is employed to remove insulatormaterial layer 15. The insulator layer can be removed, for example,using an etch process, such as aqueous hydro-fluoric acid (HF). Theaqueous hydro-fluoric acid will etch the insulator material layer 15from the top of the device shown in FIG. 5, and by extension, thenitride material 20 located on top of the insulator material 15 islifted off the fins 18. The removal of the insulator material layer 15,and by extension the nitride material located on top of the insulatormaterial layer 15, will result in the top of the fins 18 being exposed,i.e. the nitride material 20, does not cover the top of any of the fins18.

The directional deposition of the nitride material 20 can be done, asstated, so that only a portion of each of the sidewalls of the fins iscontacted by the nitride material 20; however, there may be a need toreduce this contact and a need to remove eventual residual nitridematerial (not shown in Figures) occupying some portions of the sidewallsof the fins 18. This can be achieved by removing eventual residualnitride material from the sidewalls of the fins 18. The removal can bedone by an etching process, such as isotropic reactive ion etching, ormore preferably, a timed wet etch step. A non-limiting example for a wetetch is applying hot phosphoric acid to the nitride contacting thefin-sidewalls so that any possible nitride residue is removed therefrom.

Usually, there is no nitride residue present on the sidewalls. In caseswhere there is nitride residue on the fin sidewall, it is much thinnerthan the deposited nitride material 20 filling spaces between the fins18. As such, the wet etch step may be timed, so it removes all residualnitride material from the sidewalls, but leaves a substantial amount ofthe deposited nitride material 20 intact.

Preferably, the removal will ensure that the nitride material 20 willdirectly-mechanically contact no more than half of the surface area ofthe sidewall of the fins 18. By extension, this will result in theheight of the nitride material 20 being less than the height of thenitride material 20 of the fins 18.

By way of a non-limiting example, employing the above techniques to adevice where the insulator layer is a buried oxide layer with 145 nm inthickness, the fins are 50 nm in height, the fin pitch is 40 nm, thespacing between the fins is 30 nm, some portions of the insulator thatare recessed to 5 nm in depth, and the nitride material being depositedis 10 nm in initial depth, with a eventual residue of about 1-2 nm onthe sidewalls, can result in the recessed portions being totally filledby nitride material with an additional 1-2 nm contacting the finsidewalls. The directional deposition will ensure that all or asubstantial portion of the nitride material deposits in between the finsand in the recessed portion of the insulator, and eventual residualnitride on the sidewalls can be removed by the etch processes describedabove, for example the timed wet etch, which will remove 1-2 nm ofdeposited nitride material and all of the eventual nitride residue. Theresult will be 5 nm of nitride material in the 5 nm recess, with only 2nm contacting the fins sidewalls.

Alternatively, in another embodiment of the present disclosure, therecessing of the insulator layer 12 is done by an etch process, such aswet etching, or more preferably, reactive ion etching. This can resultin deeper recesses that permit the nitride material 20 to be depositedmore firmly in the recesses.

By way of a non-limiting example, employing the above techniques to adevice where the insulator layer has deeper recesses (as describedabove) and is a buried oxide layer with 145 nm in thickness, the finsare 50 nm in height, the fin pitch is 40 nm, the spacing between thefins is 30 nm, some portions of the insulator in between the fins thatare recessed are 20 nm in depth, and the nitride material beingdeposited is 25 nm in initial thickness, with residual nitride of about1-2 nm on the sidewalls, can result in the recessed portions beingtotally filled by nitride material with an additional 1-2 nm contactingthe fin sidewalls. The directional deposition will ensure that all or asubstantial portion of the nitride material is deposited in between thefins and in the recessed portion of the insulator, and the residualnitride removal by the etch processes described above, for example thetimed wet etch, will remove 1-2 nm of deposited nitride material and allof the nitride residue. The result will be 20 nm of nitride material inthe 20 nm recesses, with only 3 nm outside the recesses and contactingthe fins sidewalls.

Referring now to FIG. 6, after the nitride material 20 is deposited, thefins 18 can be merged by an epitaxial material 25 using an epitaxialprocess. As stated above, the deposited nitride material 20 will preventthe formation of crystalline defects, such as dislocations or stackingfaults, in the epitaxial material, as it grows along the nitridesurface.

Generally, expitaxial growth, grown, deposition, formation, process etc.means the growth of a semiconductor material on a deposition surface ofa semiconductor material, in which the semiconductor material beinggrown has the same crystalline characteristics as the semiconductormaterial of the deposition surface. In an epitaxial deposition process,the chemical reactants provided by the source gasses are controlled andthe system parameters are set so that the depositing atoms arrive at thedeposition surface of the semiconductor substrate with sufficient energyto move around on the surface and orient themselves to the crystalarrangement of the atoms of the deposition surface. Therefore, anepitaxial semiconductor material has the same crystallinecharacteristics as the deposition surface on which it is formed. Forexample, an epitaxial semiconductor material deposited on a <100>crystal surface will take on a <100> orientation. In some embodiments,epitaxial growth and/or deposition processes are selective to forming onsemiconductor surface, and do not deposit material on dielectricsurfaces, such as silicon dioxide or silicon nitride surfaces.

Examples of various epitaxial growth process apparatuses that aresuitable for use in forming epitaxial semiconductor material of thepresent application include, e.g., rapid thermal chemical vapordeposition (RTCVD), low-energy plasma deposition (LEPD), ultra-highvacuum chemical vapor deposition (UHVCVD), atmospheric pressure chemicalvapor deposition (APCVD) and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Thetemperature for epitaxial deposition process for forming the carbondoped epitaxial semiconductor material typically ranges from 550° C. to900° C. Although higher temperature typically results in fasterdeposition, the faster deposition may result in crystal defects, filmcracking

Referring now to FIG. 7, an embodiment of the present disclosure isshown. A FinFET device is shown with an insulator material layer 15 overa plurality of fins 18, where the plurality of fins 18 are over aninsulator layer 12, which itself is over a handle substrate 10. Recesses22 for portions of the insulator layer 12 that are in between theplurality of fins 18 are shown. The nature of the recesses will bediscussed in more detail below.

It should be noted that the explanation as to fin formation and thedeposition of insulator layer 14 have been omitted with reference toFIG. 7 and onward. It should be further noted that when a discussionrefers to the insulator material layer 15, as in the previousembodiments, this refers to insulator material that is the remnant ofinsulator layer 14, which is altered as a result of a fin formationprocess.

Referring now to FIG. 8, an embodiment of the present disclosure isshown. A FinFET device is shown with an insulator material layer 15 overthe fins 18, and where nitride material 20 is deposited in the recesses22 between spaces between each semiconductor fin 18. The nitridematerial 20 can be deposited by directional deposition, for example highdensity plasma deposition, such that it covers surfaces parallel to theplasma source, without causing excessive perpendicular deposition, i.e.minimizing deposition of nitride material along the sidewalls of thefins 18; and additionally, the nitride material 20 will be located in aplane beneath each bottom of each of the fins 18, allowing epitaxialdeposition along the whole sidewall of the fin, which is beneficial fordopant distribution in the final device structure. The nitride material20 can be any kind of silicon based nitride material, likeSi_(x)O_(y)N_(z). Preferably, the material will be silicon nitride,Si₃N₄.

The recessed portions 22 of the insulator 12 can be substantiallyrecessed. Substantially recessed means that the recess of each of therecessed portions 22 is deep and wide enough so that the nitridematerial 20 deposited therein is either mostly or completely immersed inthe insulator region 12. A complete immersion is where at least everyportion of the bottom and side portions of the nitride material contactsthe insulator layer 12, and the height of nitride material does notexceed the depth of the recesses 22.

In order to create the substantial recesses, an etch process can beemployed. Preferably, the substantial recess will be obtained byperforming an etch process such as anisotropic reactive ion etching tothe insulator region 12, which permits a deep and one-dimensional recesswithout lateral widening of the recessed trench.

Referring now to FIG. 9, a removal process is employed on insulatormaterial layer 15. The insulator layer can be removed, for example,using an etch process, such as aqueous hydro-fluoric acid (HF). Theaqueous hydro-fluoric acid will etch the insulator material 15 from thetop of the device shown in FIG. 8, and by extension, the nitridematerial 20 located on top of the insulator material 15 is lifted offthe fins 18. The removal of the insulator material layer 15, and byextension the nitride material located on top of the insulator materiallayer 15, will result in the top of the fins 18 being exposed, i.e. thenitride material 20, does not cover the top of any of the fins 18.

The directional deposition of the nitride material 20 can be done, asstated, so that only a minimal portion of each of the sidewalls of thefins is contacted by the nitride material 20; however, there may be aneed to further reduce this contact and a need to remove residue nitridematerial (not shown in Figures) occupying spaces between the fins, suchthat the nitride material makes no contact with the sidewall of the fins18 or any other portion of the fins 18. This can be achieved by removingeventual residual nitride material from the sidewalls of the fins 18.The removal can be done by an etching process, such as isotropicreactive ion etching, or more preferably, a timed wet etch step. Anon-limiting example for an wet etch is applying hot phosphoric acid tothe nitride contacting the fin-sidewalls so that any nitride residue isremoved therefrom.

Usually, there is no nitride residue present on the sidewalls. In caseswhere there is nitride residue on the fin sidewall, it is much thinnerthan the deposited nitride material 20 filling spaces between the fins18. As such, the wet etch step may be timed, so it removes all eventualresidual nitride material from the sidewalls, and ensures that nocontact between the fins 18 and the nitride material 20 is present, butleaves a substantial amount of the deposited nitride material 20 intact.

Preferably, the removal will ensure that the nitride material 20 willdirectly-mechanically contact no more than half of the surface area ofthe sidewall of the fins 18, and even more preferably it will be suchthat the nitride material 20 makes no contact with the fins 18whatsoever, as a result of being mostly or completely immersed in thesubstantially recessed portions of the insulator region 12.

By way of a non-limiting example, employing the above techniques to adevice where the insulator layer has deeper recesses (as describedabove) and is a buried oxide layer with 145 nm in depth, the fins are 50nm in height, the fin pitch is 40 nm, the spacing between the fins is 30nm, some portions of the insulator that are recessed are 20 nm in depth,and the nitride material being deposited is 22 nm in initial depth, witha eventual nitride residue of about 1-2 nm on the sidewalls, can resultin the recessed portions being totally filled by nitride material withan additional 1-2 nm contacting the fin sidewalls. The directionaldeposition will ensure that all or a substantial portion of the nitridematerial deposits in between the fins and in the recessed portion of theinsulator, and eventual residual nitride on the sidewalls is furtherremoved by the etch processes described above, for example the timed wetetch, which will remove 1-2 nm of deposited nitride material and all ofthe nitride residue. The result will be 20 nm of nitride materialcompletely immersed in the 20 nm recess, thus making no mechanicalcontact with the fin sidewalls.

Referring now to FIG. 10, after the nitride material 20 is deposited,the fins 18 can be merged by an epitaxial material 25 using an epitaxialprocess. As stated above, the deposited nitride material 20 will preventthe formation of crystalline defects, such as dislocations or stackingfaults, in the epitaxial material, as it grows along the nitride surface

The embodiments of the present disclosure, as described herein, areapplicable for various dimension of fin width, height, and pitch. Forexample, the fin width of the fins 18 can be between 4 nm-20 nm, andmore preferably, the fin width can be between 6 nm-15 nm. By way ofanother example, the fin pitch of the plurality of fins can be between20 nm to 50 nm. The insulator region 12 can be 145 nm in thickness andthe fin height can be between 10 nm-60 nm. However, as stated, thesedimensions, and any other dimensions used herein, are merely exemplaryand other dimensions can work equally well in accordance with theteachings contained herein.

While the present application has been particularly shown and describedwith respect to various embodiments thereof, it will be understood bythose skilled in the art that the foregoing and other changes in formsand details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe present application. It is therefore intended that the presentapplication not be limited to the exact forms and details described andillustrated, but fall within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A FinFET device comprising: a substrate with aburied insulator, the buried insulator comprising a plurality ofrecessed portions; a plurality of fins over the buried insulator; and anitride material filing the plurality of recessed portions between theplurality of fins, wherein at least one sidewall of each of theplurality of fins remain uncovered by the nitride material.
 2. TheFinFET device according to claim 1, wherein the height of the nitridematerial is less than the height of the fin.
 3. The FinFET deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the nitride material contacts at least onesidewall of each of the plurality of fins.
 4. The FinFET deviceaccording to claim 3, wherein the contact is such that the nitridematerial contacts no more than half of the at least one sidewall of eachof the plurality of fins.
 5. The FinFET device according to claim 4,wherein, the substrate, the insulator layer, the plurality of fins, andthe nitride material are located on an n-FET region of the FinFETdevice.
 6. The FinFET device according to claim 5, wherein the pluralityof fins are epitaxially merged.
 7. The FinFET device according to claim1, wherein the nitride material is a silicon-nitride material.
 8. TheFinFET device according to claim 1, wherein the buried insulator isrecessed by pre-epitaxial processing.
 9. The FinFET device according toclaim 1, wherein the buried insulator is recessed by reactive ionetching.
 10. A FinFET device comprising: a substrate with a buriedinsulator, the buried insulator comprising a plurality of recessedportions; a plurality of fins over the buried insulator; and a nitridematerial filing the plurality of recessed portions between the pluralityof fins, wherein at least one sidewall of each of the plurality of finsremain uncovered by the nitride material and wherein the nitridematerial does not contact the bottom of the plurality of fins.
 11. TheFinFET device according to claim 10, wherein the height of the nitridematerial is less than the height of the fin.
 12. The FinFET deviceaccording to claim 10, wherein the nitride material contacts at leastone sidewall of each of the plurality of fins.
 13. The FinFET deviceaccording to claim 12, wherein the contact is such that the nitridematerial contacts no more than half of the at least one sidewall of eachof the plurality of fins.
 14. The FinFET device according to claim 13,wherein, the substrate, the insulator layer, the plurality of fins, andthe nitride material are located on an n-FET region of the FinFETdevice.
 15. The FinFET device according to claim 14, wherein theplurality of fins are epitaxially merged.
 16. The FinFET deviceaccording to claim 10, wherein the nitride material is a silicon-nitridematerial.
 17. The FinFET device according to claim 10, wherein theburied insulator is recessed by pre-epitaxial processing.
 18. The FinFETdevice according to claim 10, wherein the buried insulator is recessedby reactive ion etching.